Most businesses I meet do not have a delivery problem. They have a delivery routine problem. The deliveries happen, but every one is a fresh scramble: find a rider, agree a price, hope it arrives. The fix is not working harder. It is turning delivery into a system. Here is how I would set that up.
Step 1: Decide your daily pickup window
Pick a time each day when your orders are packed and ready, and make that your pickup window. Even a single fixed slot, say late morning, changes everything. You pack toward a deadline, the rider knows when to come, and customers get consistent delivery times.
Step 2: Standardise how you package
Reliable delivery starts before the rider arrives. Use the same packaging for the same kinds of orders. Label each package with the recipient’s name, phone number, and the amount to collect if it is cash-on-delivery. Riders move faster when there is no guesswork at the door.
Step 3: Choose a courier you can build on
You want same-day coverage across the areas you sell to, cash-on-delivery with same-day settlement, live tracking, and per-delivery pricing with no contract. If you are weighing options, my checklist on choosing a courier for your business covers exactly what to ask.
Step 4: Use cash-on-delivery properly
In Ghana, COD is not a weakness, it is a sales tool. The key is clean reconciliation. With Mckot, the rider collects, we reconcile, and you are paid by Mobile Money the same day. Tell your customer the exact amount in advance so the handover is quick.
Step 5: Move repeat runs onto a schedule
Once you can see your pattern, stop booking the predictable runs one by one. A scheduled pickup means a rider arrives in your window automatically, often at a better rate than ad hoc bookings. This is the step that takes delivery off your daily to-do list for good.
Step 6: Own vs outsource the riders
Some owners ask whether they should just hire riders. For most small and mid-size businesses, the maths favours a courier: no salaries, no fuel, no bike maintenance, no idle time on slow days. You pay for deliveries when you have them and scale with demand. If your volume is genuinely large and steady, a company account gives you scheduled runs and one monthly statement without taking on a fleet.
Putting it together
Reliable delivery is a routine, not a hero effort. Fixed pickup window, standard packaging, the right courier, clean COD, and a schedule for the repeat runs. Set that up once and delivery stops being the thing that breaks on your busiest day. When you are ready, here is how business delivery works on Mckot.
